‘Swept and Garnished’

Notes on the text

These notes, edited by John Radcliffe, are partly new, and partly based on the ORG. The page and, line numbers below refer to the Macmillan (London) Standard Edition of A Diversity of Creatures, as published and frequently reprinted between 1917 and 1950.

 

[Title] ‘Swept and Garnished’ See Luke 11,25. ‘And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished’.

[Page 408, line 6] the radiator at once receded towards the horizon She has started to have hallucinations.

[Page 408, line 31 onwards] the yellow cut-glass handles … The lavish appointments of the apartment are in a style which Kipling would have found repugnant.

[Page 410, line 22] ‘What news?’ The story is set in the early days of the war, and she is asking for news of the attack on Belgium.

[Page 410, line 25] ‘Another victory’ The Belgian army had put up a brave resistance, but was no match for the German forces.

[Page 414, line 10] ‘We can’t…there isn’t anything left Some Belgian villages had been destroyed as an act of terror. See the headnote.

[Page 414, line 22] ‘We are waiting for our people to come for us…’ After the Germans have been defeated the avenging armies of their victims will come to Berlin.

[Page 414, line 32] The five gave the names of two villages of which she had read in the papers… See the headnote.

[Page 416, line 29] when she suggested an Emperor’s palace, they agreed with her The British saw this as very much ‘The Kaiser’s War’.

[Page 418, line 7] ‘Oh, you hurt, you hurt!’ he cried See the headnote.

[J.R.]

©The Kipling Society 2008 All rights reserved